In our cab from the airport to the hotel, the seat pocket displaying various magazines contained a copy of American Eagle Airlines' inflight magazine. American doesn't fly to Bangkok, let alone its partner American Eagle.
"Charlie" is a very popular name for stores and restaurants in Bangkok--it is all over the place.
There is a Chabad house near Khao San Road--the main backpacker hotel/hostel zone.
Three out of my four female cousins have girly bars named after them. Sorry Hannah, I was unable to find one with your name on it. What's most bizarre, though, is that "Molly's" and "Annie's Famous Massage Parlor" are right next door to each other (yes, I have photographic proof of this). Are Ken and Becky really sure they were in Austin/Philadelphia when they claimed to be, and they weren't moonlighting as owners of Bangkok brothels?
Bangkok security guards are really nice--and even some of the taxi drivers too. When I asked for directions from some security guards, some of them took my hand and pointed the way to go, and all were very polite and formal.
How bad is the bangkok traffic? In rush hour, one cab driver refused to take me to where I wanted to be taken, because it would have taken an hour with traffic. When I mentioned a skytrain/subway stop (my hotel is about 150 yards away from a stop), he got on the phone with his supervisor, spent about five minutes on the phone with him, took me to the nearest subway station and told me which way I needed to go. Yes, I tipped the guy (i didn't ask for change and the change would have been 20% of the fare).
I went to a mall to find a pharmacy, and I was promptly offered a lollipop (in a sealed wrapper from a security guard). When I tok one, the guy gave me another one.
Maybe the only obvious thing that has changed about Bangkok is that there are now metal detectors in front of all malls, and you have to pass through them and show your bag to a security guard at the subway/skytrain.
Managed to make a nice 50 baht when I sold off my "decline and fall of the roman empire" book that I had read a grand total of 40 pages over the past six weeks. As a comparison, I've read 370 pages of a new book I bought in Laos within the past two days.
American embassy looks like a cliched colonial country club type establishment--beautiful setting--and the guards do not mind if you take pictures. Take that Laos!
Headed to Kanchanaburi (bridge over the river kwai) tmw after picking up my passport from the Vietnamese embassy and having my new flights figured out.
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